Katherine Reagan named Stern curator of rare books

Katherine Reagan, curator of rare books in the Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections since 2000, has been named the Ernest L. Stern '56 Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts for the next five years.

A member of the library staff since 1995, Reagan has been responsible for enriching the library's holdings of English and American literature and American history, and for adding materials to many other collections, including children's literature, travel and tourism, and women's history. Over the past year she has been instrumental in bringing a prominent Native American collection, several books and manuscripts by Herman Melville, and the Jon A. Lindseth '56 Russian fable collection to Cornell. She also teaches a popular course for Cornell's Department of English on the history of the book.

Reagan is the current chair of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association and a member of the Grolier Club. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California-Berkeley and her master's degree from the Rare Book Program at Columbia University's School of Library Service.

Ernest L. Stern '56 retired as chair and CEO of Thales Components Corp. in 2003. To recognize his alumni leadership, his classmates honored him with the endowed curatorship in his name. The curatorship is assigned by the University Librarian on a limited-term basis to honor the contribution of individual librarians. The first Ernest L. Stern '56 Curator was Ved Kayastha, curator of the South Asia collection, who retired in 2003.

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